


Temper Temper

by labocat



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-15 06:44:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13607796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/labocat/pseuds/labocat
Summary: Chocolate must be heated up to the proper temperature and then tempered with skill to be appropriately malleable and set stably without decay over time.Tempering is the process that re-establishes the cocoa butter crystals that are in real chocolate...[and assures] only the best form is present. - A Baker's Guide, pg. 34





	Temper Temper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EmiAliceinWonderland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmiAliceinWonderland/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Day! The timeline for this is set somewhere between Eleventh Hour and Suffering Game and utilizes a fake holiday that is unimportant aside from an opportunity to give gifts. I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful day!

Disasters in the kitchen didn’t need any magic to predict. Really, all you needed was a sharp sense of smell and the common sense to know when to get out of dodge. Taako had those both in spades, even asleep.

Which is how he found himself in the kitchen of the Bureau of Balance dorms at two in the morning, staring down into a melted reactor core of a mess in a pan pretending to be a double-boiler and then into the face of one boy detective.

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep right now? Past your curfew? Something something something about early worms and wealthy birds and wise men?” Honestly, Taako was just as surprised to see Angus standing in the kitchen fully and properly dressed than he was just to see Angus awake at this hour. He expected at least a night cap. Or striped pajamas.

“The early bird gets the worm, sir, and then early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise!”

“What.” It most definitely was too early - or late? - for any of this. He felt like he’d only closed his eyes a few minutes ago, which, glancing at the clock, he actually had.

Taako sighed, then tipped the mess on the stove in his direction. “Just what were you doing down here, little man? If you were trying to set kitchen on fire and smoke us all out, you’d have done a better job starting with Fireball.” No matter that it was a more advanced spell than Angus should really be doing. He had faith the little nerd had been reading ahead. He could probably even do it delayed if he wanted. 

It didn’t change the congealed mess in front of him, nor the way Angus was visibly fidgeting, adjusting and re-adjusting his bowtie like it would give him some sort of insight into what had happened.

“It...it was supposed to be a surprise.”

“I’d say you’ve definitely achieved that. A one-hundred-percent success rate at surprises. Consider me plenty surprised. But what was it supposed to _be_?” As much as Taako wanted to turn around, shove the whole thing in the sink for some other sucker to deal with, and go back to bed, the look on Angus’ face wouldn’t let him leave. He’d try again and burn everything again and Taako would have to wake up again, or _worse_ , someone else would find him in the kitchen and try to help.

“I just wanted to make everyone chocolate for Cooperation Day - all of the chocolate at the markets were too simple or too fancy and didn’t have any personality!”

Taako blinked. Was Cooperation Day really that soon? He’d have to figure out what he could get away with giving away - maybe there was something in one of the piles of stuff in the corner of his room he could fake as being gifts.

Angus interrupted his train of thought. “You forgot about Cooperation Day, didn’t you, sir?”

Taako patted Angus on the shoulder, so that he swayed back and force with the force of it. “Nope! Of course not, I’m just surprised you waited this long to do anything about it. Chocolate, you said? That’s tricky, real tricky. It’s a good thing you woke me up.” With any luck, he could take some of the chocolate and make truffles or something else and give those to people.

Taako had a suspicion his expression was doing something soft without his permission when Angus’s face lit up and he grinned from ear to ear. “Really, sir? You’ll help me? That’d be great, so great to get to learn from you - what was I thinking, I’m sure you already made your chocolates for everyone, since you’re a professional and all! Thank you, sir!”

It only took a blink for Taako to recover smoothly. “Of course; can’t have anyone thinking I taught you less than well, after all.”

Angus’s eyes were shining as he rushed around the kitchen, cleaning up pots and pans and getting out new ones. Soon, a new batch of completely unhelpful kitchen utensils were piled on the counters, with Taako shaking his head at every new addition to it. After about the third head shake, Angus paused.

“Ango, Ango, Ango, if you’re dealing with chocolate, you need a proper double boiler. Otherwise you’ll just end up where you started. Temperature is the most important thing here - you’ve got to pay attention.”

“Oh, I’m very good at that! Just tell me what temperature it needs to be and I won’t go a degree under or over!” Taako could see the wheels turning in Angus’s brain, and with the feeling that if he left it for another day, the kid would have come up with a monitoring spell that would do just that. In the meantime, Taako looked around the kitchen for anything suitable before just transfiguring two pots. Really, didn’t the BoB budget include proper necessary kitchen supplies? No wonder the kid had almost smoked them out.

Soon enough, though, there was a pot of melted chocolate simmering over a fire Taako had conjured after determining the kitchen burners were also wholly inadequate, with Angus at the ready with an armful of more chocolate for melting and seeding. He watched as Taako stirred, handing off utensils as Taako called them out and checking the temperature at regular intervals. It had been a while since Taako had made chocolate, and even longer since he’d let anyone in the kitchen with him. He’d gotten good enough at tuning Angus down to an acceptable excitement and energy level on their missions, but in the silence afforded by a sleeping base and an empty kitchen, with all of Angus’s attention on learning all he could about a new process, Taako would almost admit (under duress, obviously) that Angus was a good sous chef. They’d found a rhythm, of Angus adding and Taako stirring, of Angus checking the temperature and Taako adjusting the flame underneath that required fewer and fewer words as the chocolate melted and smoothed. Taako almost found himself reluctant when Angus said, his voice almost softer than Taako had ever heard it, “I think it’s ready, sir.”

The chocolate was poured out onto sheets and as Taako held the spatulas to temper the chocolate, he felt himself hold his breath. Somewhere in the stirring this has stopped being a lot of showing off for the kid and now he actually, honestly wanted it to turn out well. Not so that he could flippantly brag or skim the leftover chocolate so he didn’t have to do more work later, but because he wanted it to turn out well for Angus. It had started with the magic lessons, but somewhere along the way, Angus had gone from an annoyance to a necessary evil to a student, and as he stared at the chocolate he was mixing and spreading, as he watched the rough chocolate they’d melted take on a smoother, stronger form for the chocolate around it, Taako thought he could almost call Angus something like family.

“What’ve you got for molds, kiddo?”

“Molds?”

“Yeah, molds, you know, those handy little things that shape the chocolate to what you want. You know, personalized and shit.”

Angus looked nervous. “I...I thought I’d just transmute them all into different shapes when I was done with one batch…” He trailed off as he started to fidget again, wiping chocolatey hands on his apron front.

Taako felt a cold pang go through his stomach, and as Angus looked back up at him, knew the smile he forced onto his face wasn’t very convincing. “Agnes. Really? Don’t transmute food if you can transmute the mold instead.” He tried to laugh it off, as he could see the wheels turning in Angus’s head, the confusion as he opened his mouth to say something like ‘show value’ or ‘presentation’, and thanked every deity he knew wasn’t listening when he saw the kid decide it was better not to question it.

“Transmuted molds. Got it.” His voice was too chipper for the way he wrote in his notebook with a flourish, but he turned his attention back to Taako readily enough that Taako was grateful. The kid was smarter than he had any right to be at that age and height, but every now and then, he used his powers for good.

“So, what are you waiting for? Transmute it up so we can pour these bad boys in!” Taako spread his hands out over the simple molds the kitchen inexplicably had and watched as Angus’s brow furrowed in concentration. Taako hadn’t taught Angus any transmutation spells yet, so he was curious to see what the kid would come up with.

In no time, there were oddly twisted molds of silicone scattered across the tabletop and in an attempt to save the last mold left as well as his sanity and the sanctity of transmutation magic, Taako held up a hand. “Lemme do this one. Just tell me what you want and I’ll handle it.” 

They ended up with a duck for Magnus, a flower for Merle, a staff for the Director, and bracers for Carey and Killian and the rest of the BoB staff. By the time Angus had wrapped them up in the cellophane and ribbon that of course he had prepared, both of them were yawning and Taako could hear the beginnings of stirrings of the people crazy enough to do morning routines and exercise and all of that nonsense.

“Well, I’m going to go try to actually sleep now that you aren’t going to destroy the kitchen and get out of here before anyone can come in and start demanding to be fed or other absurd requests.” He stretched demonstratively, with a small exaggerated groan for good measure. “Good night, kiddo.”

“Good night, sir. And thank you for helping me.”

Taako was surprised at the next words out of his mouth. “Any time, Angus.” 

By the look on Angus’s face, he knew Angus knew how much he meant his words and was as surprised as he was. And yet, he left the kitchen without taking them back and with a smile on his lips.


End file.
